James Harden's trade to the Brooklyn Nets from the Houston Rockets is newsworthy enough in the world of the NBA, but the move also contains a little bit of MLS trivia as he becomes the third person with an ownership stake in an MLS club at the Nets.
Harden, a part owner in the Houston Dynamo, joins former teammate Kevin Durant in Brooklyn, who also happens to be a part-owner of the Philadelphia Union. They will be coached by Steve Nash, a part-owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Of the three, Nash has the longest history in MLS. He joined the Whitecaps' ownership group in 2008, and stayed part of the group as it entered MLS in 2011. Harden joined the Dynamo in 2019 as an investment in the city he called home from 2012 until this week's trade. Durant became one of the Union's owners in June.
It could all make for some interesting locker room conversations when the MLS season gets going.
